1. Prof. Estelle Derclaye University of Nottingham Moscow, 27/11/2018
The study in support of the evaluation of the database directive and next steps
Prof. Estelle Derclaye
University of Nottingham
Moscow, 27/11/2018

2. Database directive – history and presentation
Database directive 96/9, implemented in the Member States by 1/1/1998
Copyright (original structure) and sui generis right (substantial investment in obtaining, verifying or presenting the contents)
EU idea, database treaty, US bills
‘Pure’ EU 20 years experiment (e.g. Turkey, Albania >< not Belarus and Ukraine)
Criticised in most quarters as too protective – Jerry Reichman & Pam Samuelson “IP rights in data” (1997), Bernt Hugenholtz, Matthias Leistner, Mark Davison…
Court of Justice case law – 10 decisions ( ) fewer databases protected but broad scope of protection
First evaluation report 2005 – status quo
Second evaluation report 2018 – status quo but may change in view of developments: executive-summary-evaluation-directive-969ec-legal-protection

3. Study in support of the evaluation of the database directive
Bently & Derclaye – legal experts
Final report – REFIT criteria (relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, coherence, EU added value)
Legal analysis: copyright, sui generis right, relationship with contracts, unfair competition, protection of TPMs, trade secrets
Economic analysis
Online survey – experts, database makers, users and maker-users
Interviews – experts, database makers, users
Workshop – EC, consortium, users and right holders
Country grids – 28 Member States
Bibliography

4. Economic analysis Hard to obtain data
Best available data is still Gale Directory of Databases
Not conclusive one way or the other that the SGR incentivises or not creation of databases
Economic impact not proven/impossible to prove but on the books bad at best

5. Legal analysis: areas of agreement and disagreement
Informed by responses to the public consultation, online survey, interviews and workshop, and the literature
Generally polarised views: Right holders (sui generis right vital) >< users (added layer of complexity and protection); experts generally against sui generis right
Some areas of agreement across groups eg notion of substantial investment, obtained/created data, substantial part = unclear => legal uncertainty

6. Legal analysis: areas of agreement and disagreement
Some sticking points: notions of
substantial investment: creating >< obtaining data including notion of recorded data
database maker
exceptions to © and to sui generis right
The ‘only’ positive = harmonised – so-called ‘EU added- value’, including case law CJEU
Com final

7. Legal analysis: some possible solutions
Abolition of sui generis right? Problem = relationship contract and unfair competition
Creation of a user right applicable to contracts and TPMs, would reverse Ryanair; make all exceptions imperative
Unfair competition could replace sui generis right only if harmonised but wasn’t that the purpose of the sui generis right?
Registration? could resolve hold-ups, term, but double-edge (rent- seeking, strategic registrations)

8. Legal analysis: Relationship with public sector data
Ex: data recorded at road tolls, aggregate data of entries at the border, data captured by CCTV cameras, meteorological data
PSI directive: Directive 2003/98/EC amended by Directive 2013/37/EU, public consultation in 2017
All printed, aurally or visually recorded, or electronically accessible documents of public-sector bodies (except documents held by educational, cultural, archival, or research establishments and those in which third parties hold intellectual property rights) must be made available for reuse for (non)commercial purposes
Certain conditions for transparency and competition such as providing within reasonable time, at cost

9. Legal analysis: Relationship with public sector data
Relationship between the sui generis right and the PSI directive = whether public-sector bodies
1) can acquire the sui generis right and
2) if so, how the PSI directive affects it
Nothing in either of the two directives precludes a public-sector body from acquiring a sui generis right
Member States: Article 2(4) of the Berne Convention exclusion for official texts applies to sui generis right databases? Unclear. Exception: art. 8 Dutch Database Act but para 2 makes it optional; Czech law goes further
Does the sui generis right apply? Disputable that there is risk, hence an investment, because paid with taxpayer’s money

10. Legal analysis: Relationship with public sector data
=> Relationship between DBD and Directive on reuse of PSI: unclear, should be clarified
Similar views by database users and research bodies in DBD and PSI public consultations ie DBD and PSI directives clash enormously >< publishers – both directives are in ‘perfect harmony’
DBD and PSI directive evaluation reports agree and new Commission proposal amending the PSI directive addresses this: rec 53 and art. 1(5): “The right for the maker of a database provided for in Article 7(1) of Directive 96/9/EC shall not be exercised by public sector bodies in order to prevent or restrict the re-use of documents pursuant to this Directive.”
3 December 2018 – EP votes before trilogues start

11. Conclusion: 20 years on
Still unclear whether database sui generis right incentivises production of databases
Many notions still unclear
Stakeholders still very polarised though no huge interest/upheaval
Relationship with PSI will hopefully be clearer in March 2019
=> EU database experiment shows better to be pluralist, i.e. let one country/region experiment, see the effect before adopting or not rule universally (i.e. international convention)

12. Thank you for your attention
Photo: University of Nottingham School of Law by
University of Nottingham School of Law -